NASA images of asteroid Bennu reveal 'extremely bright' chunks of another asteroid on the surface

• NASA spotted six odd boulders on the surface of asteroid Bennu
• The chunks range from five to 14 feet in size and are brighter than the surface 
• The team used OSIRIS-Rex's on-board spectrometer to analyze the pieces
• The chunks show signs of the mineral pyroxene, which is found on asteroid Vesta
• NASA says Vesta may have collided with Bennu's parent asteroid  

NASA spotted pieces of asteroid Vesta ranging in size from five to 14 feet scattered across Bennu's southern hemisphere and near its center.

The boulders were detected in images from the OSIRIS-Rex and appear much brighter than the surrounding area of dark, rich carbon.

The team analyzed the chunks using an on-board spectrometer and found signs of the mineral pyroxene - a known compound on Vesta.

NASA theorizes the material came from Bennu's parent asteroid that was struck by a fragment from Vesta.

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NASA spotted pieces of asteroid Vesta ranging in size from five to 14 feet scattered across Bennu's southern hemisphere and near its center. The boulders were detected in images from the OSIRIS-Rex and appear much brighter than the surrounding area of dark, rich carbon

Hannah Kaplan of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said: 'Our leading hypothesis is that Bennu inherited this material from its parent asteroid after a vestoid (a fragment from Vesta) struck the parent.'

'Then, when the parent asteroid was catastrophically disrupted, a portion of its debris accumulated under its own gravity into Bennu, including some of the pyroxene from Vesta.'

During spring 2019, the device snapped images showing odd pieces stuck in the 'rubble pile' that is Bennu.

HOW WILL NASA'S OSIRIS-REX MISSION TO TAKE SAMPLES FROM AN ASTEROID WORK?

Osiris-Rex is the first US mission designed to return a piece of an asteroid to Earth.  

Scientists say the ancient asteroid could hold clues to the origin of life. 

It's believed to have formed 4.5 billion years ago, a remnant of the solar system's building blocks.

The spacecraft launched on September 8, 2016 at 19:05 EST aboard an Atlas V rocket.

After a careful survey of Bennu to characterise the asteroid and locate the most promising sample sites, Osiris-Rex will collect between 2 and 70 ounces (about 60 to 2,000 grams) of surface material with its robotic arm and return the sample to Earth via a detachable capsule in 2023.

To capture samples on the surface, the craft will hover over a specific area and 'will be sent down at a very slow and gently' 4 inches (10 cm) per second. 

The spacecraft will also carry a laser altimeter, a suite of cameras provided by the University of Arizona, spectrometers and lidar, which is similar to radar, using light instead of radio waves to measure distance.